New Free DLC - Dark and Light, Shard of Faith is now available on Steam
Gaia was corrupted and torn apart by the darkness. Ganareth, the Gods’ land, has long been shattered; Shadow shrounds the universe, jeopardizing Gaia and Archos.
Now it is time we unite and stop the fight among ourselves. Following the United Army, we travel to the corrupted Ganareth’s Shard through the ancient portal…..
Shard of Faith is the first expansion to Dark and Light. Players will join the expedition force traversing to Gaia, the mother planet corrupted by darkness, and to Ganareth, the land where Gods used to lived in. Splendor was no longer visible as the entire land was cast into the magical universe. Cities are shattered in ruins. Yet we are still able to hear the Gods' word of encouragement, inspiring us to find the ancient altars, find their believers, and with the help of new races, defend the encroaching dark force.
We’ve been dedicated to the perfection of our game during EA, fixing bugs, optimizing performance, iterating art assets and engines. At the same time, we are hoping to present more about Dark and Light to our adventurers, a larger universe that once lived in grandeur. That is why we bring Shard of Faith out, a part of Dark and Light that not only has the storyline and a brand new map, but also revamp and optimization in art and codes. These optimization is expected to be implemented into all the maps in full release.
Servers Maintenance and New Servers
We will be closing servers for maintenance at 12 am PDT on 10.9. It will take longer time for the maintenance to complete. We estimate it to be finished around 10 am PDT on 10.9.
We sincerely invite our adventurers to select Shard of Faith when you are selecting a server to join, to try the new servers and experience the new DLC.
Free Access to DLC
Pre-existing DnL players will gain access to Shard of Faith for free. New players will have access to both The Sacred Path and Shard of Faith once they purchase DnL. The below map selection screen is where you can choose which world you would like to play. We recommend players to try Shard of Faith as it will bring you entirely new gameplay experience.
New Map
Shard of Faith features a delicate new map, with the same size of the vanilla map. The DLC map is divided into five larger areas, the Red Forest, the Acrid Swamp, the Howling Sands, the Anyltheas’ Hollow, and the Broken Spine, each of which has its own terrain characteristics and distinctive biome.
Players will start from the four outposts, travelling to the four race camps, their temples, and dozens of dungeons that pose great challenge to your skills.
A Journey to Meet the Four Races
A DLC-exclusive Knowledge, Faith, will be unlockable in the DLC map. Satyr Faith, Saurianian Faith, Gorgon Faith and Necromancer Faith. Travel to their camps and temples to learn about their lores, complete race quests to unlock new craftable items and recipes.
Incarnation
Incarnation is the highlighted feature in DLC. It is different from shapeshift magic. Once you establish your rapport with the four races, you will be granted the ability to incarnate into race heroes.
There is no time duration to your incarnation. Incarnated characters will have greater increase in stats, access to exclusive weapons, and wearable equipment. What is more special is that each incarnation will have its special abilities and skills.
Two incarnations will be available at the moment:
- Gorgon incarnation, with her climbing ability and swift swimming ability. Once you unlock your incarnation stone to higher tiers, you will have access to her Poisonous Mist and Petrifying Gaze. Mobility, plus venomous bow and arrows are the keys to your combat with enemies.
- Satry Incarnation, with his great leap ability and thunder-wind wielding ability. Once you unlock your incarnation stone to higher tiers, you will have access to Aerial Thrust, and Platform Creation. You will quickly penetrate the enemy formation and use your agile thrust to damage them.
When equipped with their exclusive mythical artifacts, incarnations will be given greater might.
We will have more incarnations to come.
Magical Circle and Magical Taming
Different from the conventional taming, Magical Taming requires more delicate operations, better fighting skills and more coordinated cooperation as a team to achieve the goal. It is a more efficient taming system, that will even allow you to tame the new mythical creatures.
New creatures
16 new creatures will join Shard of Faith. They lived in various biome in the DLC map, Owl from the shrub; Scarab from ores; Kasha, the hidden hunter in the Red Forest; Bufo, the swallower in the Swamp, Dharkhu, the climber and poison wielder in the Sand. Each creature has its unique feature and gameplay. Explore the map and tame’em all!
Elite and Boss Challenge
Each creature will have its elite version and Boss version. You will need to locate their hideouts and altars through which you can summon them. Craft the mythical artifact you unlock in the Faith Knowledge to learn about the weaknesses of these elites and Bosses. You will find it easier to defeat them and be rewarded greatly.
New Items, New Resource, New Spells, New Facility
Dozens of new items are available in DLC. Runes that change you into a tree to hide yourself from pursuing enemies; Dark Wraith and Dark Fallen summoning staffhead to help you crush your enemies; powerful weather magic to summon acid rain and poisonous mist that can turn structures into vulnerability.
Quest System Revamp
Access the Quest screen to initiate the quest tracking, so that you can complete them to claim your quest rewards. Voiceover is added to accompany the Quest system. We revamp the quest system to guide new players in familiarizing themselves with DnL, but for sandbox players, you are more than welcome to selectively finish the quest and enjoy the game to your own liking.
Knowledge System Revamp
All your gameplay behavior will now grant you Knowledge experience, which will accumulate to activate your Knowledge Node and unlock new craftable recipes. You don’t have to choose which Knowledge Node you want to unlock. Any players can ultimately unlock all recipes. Access the Knowledge system to learn what recipes each Knowledge Node unlocks.
Balancing
• Structure health is adjusted: Manor structures health will follow those designated in Chaos servers, while Iron, Stone, Wood, and Straw structures will have lower health, making them more vulnerable to demolition.
• Adjust the crafting material requirement for all structures: foundations and pillars are more expensive now, while doors, walls, and decor pieces are less costly.
• Adjust weapon damage and crafting cost. Consumables are now cheaper.
• Reduce the cost of craftable magic. Repairing magic-related items will only cost you universal resource,
• Reduce the cost for crafting Refined Square Cast, Refined Obsidian Block, and Chaos Essence.
Performance and Optimization
• Upgraded graphic engine with better graphic effect.
• Optimize lighting, shadows, materials, character skin so that they look more real and natural in lighting.
• Greatly reduce the game loading time.
• Optimize game performance for better framerate.
• Fix various lagging issues.
• Fix various black screen issues.
• Fix the rubber-banding issue with harvesting and attacking especially in higher framerate.
• Optimize the performance cost for the map.
PVP related - Limit for Allowed Structure per Zone
DLC is divided into several areas, each of which has its distinctive resource and terrain, hence we predetermine a number limit for allowable structure pieces in each zone.
Death no longer Dropping all your Inventory
Once DLC is released, all types of player death will no longer drop equipment and crafted material.
Q: What will be in the drop list, and what is excluded?
A: Harvested raw material will be in the drop list, but you can still locate your corpse to collect them. In the inventory, item TIPs will have specific TAG to mark those items that are in the death drop list.
Q: Is this exclusive in Shard of Faith?
A: It also applies in The Sacred Path.
Q: I am a dedicated server hoster. Will I be given the freedom to configure PVP death drop?
A: We added PVE not dropping inventory in server setting. You are welcome to check or uncheck this option while you are hosting.
Q: Does death not dropping inventory mean my equipment and items are absolutely safe?
A: Please note that death not dropping inventory doesn’t mean that your equipment and items are absolutely safe. Please keep them in safe locations especially when you are offline.
Q: Is there penalty for death?
A: Once PVE death not dropping is implemented in the server, player stats will be halved after they respawn from death. Please use consumables accordingly to quickly recover your stats. At the same time, all your equipment and items with durability will suffer from 10% loss. However, we have bonfire set up in the United Army campsites, giving you an Buff to help restore your equipment durability.
Others
• Modify the attack and running animation for some weapons.
• Flying is going to be restricted in Shard of Faith, as we ban some flying items that are often used in vanilla. To compensate for that, we provided a lot of supplemental items in Shard of Faith.
Our Thankfulness
• We would like to extend our appreciation to DnL adventurers who participate in our DLC closed test. Your feedback will be valuable to us in making Shard of Faith, and Dark and Light a better game.
We hope you will enjoy Shard of Faith. If you notice any bugs or if you have any suggestion, please contact us. Thank you!
Dark and Light- Server update
Hey Adventurers!
We hope that you had a great weekend! Please note we will be performing a server update at 12 AM PDT. We apologize for this inconvenience and we will have the servers back up soon! Take care and happy hunting!
Dark and Light - Movie Poster Event Update!
Hey Adventurers!
I hope you are all having a great weekend! Since we are doing the DLC playtests this weekend, we are going to extend the movie poster event until October 8th as the last day to submit your entries and we will do the Community vote October 9th - 11th and announce the winner on October 12th!
Good luck everyone!
Movie Poster Community Event!
Greetings Adventurers!
With the Shard of Faith coming out soon, we thought it’d be the perfect time to reminisce on the very start of Dark and Light. We’ve all had different experiences while forging our path in Archos, and we think that now is the best time to share those experiences with one another. To bond over not only the the fortunes, but also the misfortunes, that we’ve had.
Summary
For this community event, we’d like players to create a movie poster based off the most memorable experience they’ve had from their time spent in Archos. Players may post a screenshot, edited or raw, that best depict their story and what their movie would be about. Whether it was the first time a whimsical Goblin came around and stole your entire inventory, or when you squared off against Bel’Xahl, we want to know about it!
The Details
-The Shard of Faith Movie Poster Event will run from today, September 27th until October 8th.
-The Community Team will choose their favorite three posters. Those selected will get a key to give to a friend so they can experience Dark and Light and the upcoming DLC together.
-All of the posts will also be organized and placed on Steam and our Official Forums.
-On the October 9th to the 11th we will have a community vote. You can vote either through Facebook, Twitter, or the Official forums. For Facebook, simply like the posted picture you think is best. For Twitter, we will be counting retweets as votes for the most popular. And finally, on our Official Forums we ask that you post the corresponding number for the picture you think is best.
The winner of this vote will receive a $25 amazon gift card. Winners will be announced Friday October 12th!
All submissions are to be sent to DnLEvents@snailgamesusa.com
We can’t wait to experience everyone's fondest memory from Archos. We’d like to thank everyone again for being part of Dark and Light’s growth over the past year. We can’t wait to show you everything that we’ve been working on in the Shard of Faith and the new tales to come.
Movie Poster Event example Below:
Dark and Light - Update on Shard of Faith
Hey Adventurers!
We have been making a lot of changes recently and we understand that it leaves a lot of questions about the future of Dark and Light and the new direction. Most importantly, where is the Shard of Faith DLC? We haven’t been able to share as many details about the DLC as we would like to, including the release date but when it was originally announced, we were planning on releasing the DLC in Summer of 2018. Unfortunately it looks like we will have to delay the release for just a little bit longer. Hang tight, and as we get more details we will keep you posted!
We want to assure you the game is in good hands and there is a lot of great things to look forward to for the future of Dark and Light! Just know we appreciate your patience, and in the meantime here is another sneak peak of what to look forward to with Shard of Faith. Check it out!
Again, we do want to thank you all for your patience with these changes. Feel free to ask any questions you have and let us know what you think of the screenshots!
Until next time!
DNL- Hurricane Florence
*UPDATE*
We have extended the date to the 24th! Take care everyone!
Hey Adventurers,
Due to the evacuations from the hurricane we have decided to temporarily disable the decay timers on official servers Starting 9/12 until 9/19. We hope that everyone is safe during this time!
Take care everyone!
Dark and Light - DLC Sneak Peak
Hey Adventurers!
You have all been patiently waiting for the release of the upcoming DLC, Shard of Faith, and we want to assure you that it is well on the way very soon and has reached the final stages of development! As much as we wish we could release more details, we are unable to at this time. There has been a lot of new changes lately, but we want to assure you that these are positive changes and you are all in good hands!
Hang tight, as this DLC is well worth the wait! In the meantime we would like to share some details to look forward to about Shard of Faith.
New map
New creatures
Elite and Boss versions
A Quest system
No longer drop items on PvE death
New weapons
Check out these new in-game screenshots below:
Stay tuned via our social media for the latest updates on when the DLC will release.
Until next time Adventurers!
Dark and Light - Update On New Community Changes
Adventurers!
I hope you all had a great Labor day weekend and you are all enjoying the 2x’s harvesting bonus! There were some technical issues getting the event up and running over the weekend so we have extended the event until this Sunday 9.9.18 8pm PST so if you haven’t had a chance to take advantage, it's not too late!
We have a lot of big changes that are being made. If you haven’t yet, Be sure to check out our most recent issue of the Archos Herald here for more information.
In our last Archos Herald ee announced that Jimmy, aka Zephyr, would be stepping away from his community duties. Unfortunately, we are saddened to announce today that Erebus will also no longer be a part of the community team. He was very passionate about the Dark and Light community, and he will be sorely missed.
On a positive note, I’d like to introduce myself. I am Stormborn, the new community manager for Dark and light and I look forward to getting to know everyone and grow with the community! I’m excited to also introduce another new member, Calculated! Calculated has been more of behind the scenes guy but will be taking a more open roll in our team going forward. We look forward to embracing this change and having the opportunity to be a part of Dark and Light family!
Other great things to look forward to is we will be hosting an upcoming community event! Details on that will be released soon! Also, the new DLC Shard of the Faith is coming soon! So stay tuned to our social media for more info regarding release dates!
We are excited about some new upcoming changes that will be announced very soon but first things first! Archos Herold will be bi monthly, and will answer the burning questions that the community has! We want to keep everyone updated with the trials, quests, and let's be honest, overall antics that you’re fellow Adventurers are getting involved in. Each section will go over a bit of what we have in mind for it, as well as an update to what is happening in the world of Dark and Light.
GAME DEV UPDATE -
Similar to the previous rendition of the Archos Herald, our first section needs to be about the current status and updates happening for Dark and Light. This is where we can go over any patch notes, hot fixes, future updates, and/or bug fixes that need to have may need to be discussed. As most of the community knows, we’re currently all hands on deck for the Shard of Faith DLC which is coming out soon!
COMMUNITY Q&A
In this section, we’ll be taking questions either from the comments section of the Archos Herald, or from the previous Community Streams that we weren’t able to answer or go into at the time.
In the meantime, check out the VOD of our August Q&A Live Stream and lets us know if you there are some questions you want to see answered!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0Aa128jUnk&t=36s
COMMUNITY CLIPS
Here is where we’ll have a variety of different clips that have been posted either to YouTube or captured during Twitch.tv streams.
GodHand made a post with a spread of clips from different streams. We’ve featured a few below, and you can check out the full list of clips here:
Here is where we’ll have some other top community made content, in the form of screenshots to show off. Check out some of our favorites:
VΞNOM-NOM-NOM
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COMMUNITY EVENTS
Last, not not least, this is the final section where we’ll be showing off the community events that are either currently going on, or that are just being announced. Right now, we have a 2x Harvest Rate weekend, which is running from Sunday, 9/01 to Sunday, 9/8. We’ll be looking forward to hearing and seeing how everyone took advantage of these rates. All discussions about the rates can be done in the mega thread set up on our official forums! Link here
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
Adventurers, it’s with a heavy heart that I say that Jimmy, aka Zephyr, is being taken away from us. He is being moved to work with a different team, which means you will be seeing less of him around here. However, he has left this statement for us to all remember him by.
Hello everyone,
Starting today, I will be passing on all community responsibilities (Steam, Official Forums, and Discord) to Stormborn as I will be no longer be working with the community team. Stormborn will be both our voice and the community’s voice. It was great being able to interact with you all over the past year, and Stormborn will be forced to keep me in the loop.
CLOSING
Well everyone, we hope that you like the new and improved Archos Herald. We’ll be continuing to listen to feedback and make adjustments to make sure that this is news outlet is one that is providing accurate and desired information. Make sure that you’re checking out our Official Forums, Steam Forums, and reddit, as well as following us on Twitter and Facebook.
Dark and Light August Community Live Stream
Greetings Adventurers!
It’s finally the time of the month where Dean, Jimmy, Luhan, and myself, place ourselves on a cozy couch, and answer your questions! Our third monthly Q&A Community Stream has been scheduled for Wednesday, August 22nd, at 4PM PDT! We’ve been making adjustments to the format each month to better answer the burning questions our Adventurers have, and this month, we’re continuing to change things up a bit.
For this stream, we’d like everyone interested to submit their questions to us ahead of time! We will be collecting, reading, and organizing questions starting now and going until Wednesday, August 22nd, at 10AM PDT to make sure that the popular and most asked questions are answered. To submit your question, please email us at, dnlevents@snailgamesusa.com. Be sure to spread the word far and wide, and we look forward to hanging out with the Adventures of Archos in the near future.
